On Friday, Elsa Storm, a post-tropical cyclone, pounded the East Coast with heavy rain and strong gusts.
Elsa’s strength isn’t expected to alter significantly until Friday, according to the National Weather Service. The storm has weakened since it made landfall as the Atlantic season’s first hurricane in 2021. Elsa is forecast to travel offshore from the northeastern United States coast on Friday evening, then head to Canada’s Atlantic provinces late Friday night and Saturday. Over the weekend, the storm is expected to gradually diminish.
Through Friday, much of the Northeast will see 2 to 4 inches of rain, with up to 6 inches likely in portions of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The National Weather Service cautioned that this may result in “significant flash and urban floods.”
All tropical storm watches and warnings have been lifted.
Flight schedules at LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City were interrupted on Friday due to severe weather. Due to the prediction, the city has also suspended its mobile COVID-19 immunization clinics until Friday.
Elsa has been blamed for at least four deaths since it developed in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month.
According to The Associated Press, one death was recorded in St. Lucia and two more in the Dominican Republic when the storm hit numerous eastern Caribbean islands as a Category 1 hurricane. Local officials in Jacksonville, Florida, confirmed one death.